CONSTANTINE BAY TO MAWGAN PORTH

I wouldn’t usually post again so soon [don’t want you to feel inundated!] but this one will bring you bang up to date before we head off again tomorrow. Enjoy…

Most of you will know that I am horse mad, and have small shares in a couple of racehorses [bear with, this is relevant!] and I was thrilled to learn that one horse was entered to race at Newbury, one of the premier courses in England, and where I was keen to attend as an owner.  The downside was that the race was taking place on the planned last day of our walk, from Mawgan Porth back to the car at Newquay.  So Paul thinks he’s the only one who can do logistics?  I was determined to get to the race…

Swiftly dismissed as a plan was getting up very early on the day, completing the walk, and driving to Newbury [a 4 hour journey].  Giving up on the walk, but getting the bus from Mawgan Porth to Newquay first thing was an idea, until we checked the timetable and saw there was a ridiculously early bus around 7 o’clock, [Paul vetoed this option] then nothing until gone 10 o’clock, which after an hour’s ride, would be too late.  Then I had a brainwave; why not catch the bus from Mawgan Porth the day before, drive the car back to our accommodation there [the very lovely Bedruthan Hotel and Spa] and drive off to Newbury the next day.  Brilliant, except for the fact that looking at the bus timetable, we needed to catch a mid afternoon one, but our planned walk was a long stretch, all the way from Harlyn Bay.  Undaunted, I set about reworking the distances so that we could still get to our stay in St. Merryn the previous day, but reduce the mileage on what would now be our final day.  Persistence paid off, the new plans were entered into Komoot, and it actually worked out better, as we had the long walk on the best day weather wise!

So, the final day started at The Farmer’s Arms, where Paul had been reunited with his walking pole, and we’d enjoyed a room upgrade.  Our first task was to catch the bus back to Constantine Bay-according to the route map, the stop should have been located a short way down a road to the left of the pub.  There was a shelter on the side heading in the opposite direction, but nothing on our side.  We went back up to the main road to see if we’d missed it, but there was nothing there either.  Loitering about, unsure what to do, a woman appeared from around the corner, parked herself on a stone wall and, guessing our purpose, told us this was where people waited and just flagged the bus down!  The 9.54 turned up on time, and soon we were heading down the road back to the coast.

After a brief spell on grass, we had to walk directly on the beach again to cross Treyarnon Bay.  Then followed a series of six Coves, named Wine, Pepper, Warren, Fox, Rowan and Long; in Dorset and Devon, the Path usually descends and ascends either side of a cove, but these were steep sided rocky inlets, so in Cornwall, we had to walk around them, saving on the ups and downs!  The weather was overcast today, and the wind was up to around 15mph-nowhere near as bad as the first day, but I was in still in shorts at this stage, so my knees were a tad chilly.

We reached Porthcothan by lunchtime, and at the beach stores, Cornish pasties were available, so no problem deciding what to have for lunch!  This was our first pasty of the week-there had been pasty shops a-plenty in Padstow, but we had wanted a proper dinner when we were there.  A robin perched nearby as we ate, so I left a hunk of crust for it.  The shop staff told us that toilet facilities were available in the car park, but we would need 20p to get in.  The day before, I had been shocked when at the public loos near the cafe where we had a break, it was no less than 50p to enter!  We didn’t have any change then, so I asked about it when I placed my food order at the cafe, and the waitress gave me 50p [buying something gets you free entry].  Today it was only 20p, but I was thinking how terrible if you were desperate and had no change.  Inside, there was a notice stating that Cornwall County Council was no longer funding public toilets, the cost had been passed to local councils, so the small fee was to ensure they stayed open and to prevent vandalism.  My anger was somewhat assuaged, and we’ll be prepared with small change next time, but as someone who is totally reliant on public facilities when we’re out and about, surely this is precisely the kind of public service that is part of the basic remit of councils?  Anyway, if you’re off to Cornwall anytime soon, take a bit of silver money along!

With just over 3 miles left, we were making good time.  It was fortunate that Paul had his pole back, as we both needed to use ours today.   After not seeing any mud since a brief patch on the first day, we were now tramping over a lot of grassy fields, and we were having to pick our way through some large swampy areas.  I stepped onto one clump, only for my foot to sink below hole level and suffer an inrush of cold water.  My thick walking sock seemed to absorb most of it luckily.  We also had to traverse a small stream, but there were stones available to pick our way across.  As it was colder today, I had long ago stopped to zip the legs back onto my shorts to create trousers again.  We kept expecting to tackle the infamous Bedruthan Steps, but although we did climb a few here and there, nothing that warranted a fearsome reputation.  Later, we realised that the really steep set are inland, though there is a similarly named and smaller set on the Path leading up to the Carnewas Tearoom [and stamp location].  Although the tearoom was busy, we managed to get a table inside, so we could warm up a bit, and ordered a coffee and cake [Paul went for some hot chocolate confection that looked more like a dessert than a drink!].  We had just over a mile now to reach Mawgan Porth, but the Path was now quite stony, so we had some uncomfortable scrambling to get there.  As we approached the village, there was a large property covered in scaffolding, which I guessed was probably the home of Cate Blanchett, who has been ruffling local feathers with her prolonged renovations.  

We made our way through the village towards another Beach Box kiosk, which was also supposedly near our bus stop.  I got my passport stamped, then we started looking for the shelter.  Paul pointed to one across the road, but I said it was on the wrong side.  There were a few people waiting there, so we went over and asked if anyone knew where the opposite stop was located-evidently no locals as no one did!  I decided to go back to the Beach Box, as it was right on the bus route, and asked them.  They said people just hang around on the corner and flag it down!  By the time we saw the bus heading towards us, sure enough, a little group had gathered on the corner-when you know, you know!  Maybe this is yet another saving from the Council-just have a bus shelter in one direction and let the public decide where the bus should stop on the opposite side!

An hour later, we were in Newquay.  The car had gathered a lot of dust, but it was still where we left it!  We drove back to Mawgan Porth and checked in.  Dinner was booked in the hotel’s restaurant, and we had our second sunset view of the week as we ate.  At the racing next day, we had high hopes after Navagio’s 3rd place in the high profile Lincoln Handicap, but he finished down the field at Newbury.  Still, we had a lovely day out and I’m sure there’s a win coming this season!  As for the missing walk, it has been tagged onto our next Leg [booked for the last week in June]-the plan is to park up in Newquay again, but this time we’ll be catching the bus [if we can find the stop!] to St. Ives and walking north to Newquay.  An extra day will cover a bus ride to Mawgan Porth and the walk back to Newquay [loving the continued £2 subsidised bus fares].  The next blog update will likely be in late July.

Stats:- Distance 7.89 miles.  Time 4hr 18mins.  Pace 2.9mph [top speed!]  Ascent 600ft.  Descent 650ft.